DOODLING WITH DIECUTS

ADD SOME PATTERNS TO YOUR DIECUT

I've used a Uniquely Creative die as the feature of this card, but any die with open spaces will do.
Cut out your feature from black cardstock (its often easier to do this after mounting it onto double-sided Jac paper or similar) and stick it onto a smooth plain singlefold card - Regal Craft Cards have a great variety of colours, but I've stuck with traditional and chosen  "white smooth" (PL2).
Grab a pen with a fine tip - I used a Zig Millenium pen (also from Regal) in .03 black, but you could use any colour or even mix it up a bit and use more than one.
After that just doodle a different pattern in each of the sections and your done. 
I wouldn't claim this as "Zentangle" but how about relaxing doodling for all ages?  Its quite fun to do, why not give it a go.

CARD FEATURING A METAL FLOWER

METALLIC FLOWER EMBELLISMENT

If you're like me, the combination of summer and Christmas has resulted in more than the usual amount of potentially useful craft items.

Soft drink cans are a case in point. As long as you use the fairly thin ones and proceed carefully, it's possible to both die-cut and emboss them to make embellishments.

The red flower on this card has been made from a diet coke can and a floral nesting die.  As there was a lot of red on the can, I was able, by careful positioning of the die to avoid having to colour anything.  (The stamen was cut from a silver section, and the whole stack held together with a silver split pin).

Mostly, the reverse side of a softdrink can is silver, however, so if you do need to add colour, the marker pens that you use to colour rhinestones and peel-off stickers can be used.

Thin aluminium is easy to shape so adding additional dimension is really easy.

The background is just metallic pens through a floral stencil onto black card, and I've added a bit of curling ribbon to make it match in, as the gold pen seemed to dominate.

THANK YOU CARD USING QUATREFOIL LAYERED DIES

CLOSE-UP OF LAYERED DIES

QUATREFOIL LAYERED DIE

Lee has used two quatrefoil dies from Paper Roses (and available from Regal Craft Cards) to make this elegant "thank you" card.  The white on white detail is not shown to best advantage in the photograph, but you can see from the additional die cuts in white (layer 1) and gold (layer 2) how one die fits on top of the other for a layered/textured effect.  Of course each can be used separately and thus they are very versatile.

The flowers are layered too!  Kaisercraft's "Thank You" die and stamp set, come with both solid and outline stamps to save having to colour the image plus the die so you don't even have to worry about fussy cutting!  Even the greeting has a matching die.

COLOURED CHALKBOARD EFFECT WITH STAMPS

WHITE STAMPING WITH PENCILS

I've used a blue cardbase from Regal Craft Cards, nesting dies and a stamp from Kaiser to make this card which illustrates a simple technique you might like to try next time you want to stamp on a dark background.

Select a fairly solid stamp, and stamp the image using white ink.  When the ink has dried (if you want to be sure, just whizz over it with a craft heat gun for a few seconds), colour on top with coloured pencils.

As you can see - super simple, but quite effective.  You end up with a gentle chalk-boardy effect.

I deliberately haven't added a greeting as you could use this card for many occasions.

3d BUTTERFLY CARD

3D STAMPED BUTTERFLY

I like to think that this card looks better in reality than on screen, however, its more the technique, I wanted to show.

If you'd like to add a bit of dimension to your card you use the same method as I have shown here, which is.........

Stamp an image (from Kaiser) three times  - once onto the card front and the other two onto medium weight paper.
The image on the card is the background.  Decide which parts you want to use as the middle - (I've used the wings but not the body) and the front (Just the top two wings in this case.

Colour all the pieces (I've used Copics - you don't have to shade!), gently shape the cut out pieces so that they have a soft curve, and assemble them on top of each other, using foam dots to add height.  That's it - I hope I haven't made it sound harder than it is.

I've added a stamped greeting, also attached with foam dots, and edged the card (a single fold from Regal of course) and greeting with a little sepia ink.

COLOURED DIE CUT ON A PHOTOSLOT CARD

Coloured Die Cut Card

This photoslot card from Regal Craft Cards features one of the dies from the Ultimate Crafts Australiana collection.

All I've done is use some alcohol markers to add some colours (any colouring media would do) and it makes a real statement on a black background.  It's actually deceptively easy to colour because you can just go off the edge with most of the shapes so you don't need to have ultra good fine motor skills (i.e. it looks much more fiddly than it actually is!).  The die-cut is from smooth white card so all that was necessary for the cocky was to add a little hint of yellow.

I've coloured in a greeting and a butterfly from the Australiana colouring pad, backed it with some green card and popped it all in a white textured photoslot card base from Regal Craft Cards

SIDE STEPPER BEACH THEMED CARD

"AT THE BEACH" STEPPER CARD

We have another of Trudy Meijer's cute cards from a demo she did for Regal Craft Cards a while ago.

This is a true collage card, incorporating everything from pebbles and shells to nets.

The base card is ST1 - Regal's side-stepper card, which is already cut and creased so that you can go quickly to the "fun" bit of decorating without all the measuring, scoring and cutting.

Trudy has applied glue to the front and covered it in real sand for her background.  She's added some stamped features and a LaLaLand stamp, coloured with Kaiser fusion pens and fussy cut.  On the back panel, is some patterned vellum, (made by embossing) attached with white split pins, with layers of paper underneath to be the sea.

Doesn't it look cute?

AUSTRALIA DAY CARD

You still have time to celebrate Australia Day on Monday with this cut card.

Marilyn has stamped the Stamp-It koala in black ink and added a little shading with coloured pens.  She's matted it on a dark card and then fixed it on top of torn layers of Core card and a little Kaiser scrapbooking paper.

You'd have to be extra speedy to finish it in 5 minutes but its quite do-able in 10!  If you love making cards and always have more than you need, why not give your friends a surprise for Australia Day!

TWO BIRDS JUST FOR YOU

TWO BIRDS JUST FOR YOU

One of the nice things about working in the craft shop is that I not only get to see lots of interesting craft goodies, but occasionally one of our lovely customers brings in something they have made with them, and I get to see the products in a whole new way.

Ann Parker has kindly let us show you what she has created with background paper from Fab Scraps (matted with deep pink), a variety of die cut shapes, a stamped greeting (double matted) and Kaiser pearls.  I particularly like the little birds ( a Marianne die), which Ann has cut from real sticky-backed wood (X-Press It Sticki Barc "cherry"), and coloured lightly.  All the elements are arranged on a brown base card.

The photo doesn't really do the end result justice but you can see the general idea.  Thankyou to Ann for sharing her work!

TIPS AND TECCHNIQUES CARD

DEMO CARD

This is a card I made for a Regal Craft Cards demo ages ago.  Its not a particularly great design so I'm not suggesting you necessarily want to copy it (though you're welcome to if you want) HOWEVER it was made to illustrate a whole lot of techniques that can be used in cardmaking so.......
1.  If you are a bit challenged in the bow-tying department, an alternative is to secure your ribbon at either end, then cut a smaller matching ribbon and knot it around the longer piece.  Most people will "see" a bow
2  If you have a sheer ribbon and have trouble finding an adhesive that won't show or ooze through, then secure the ends behind a panel, then mount the whole lot onto the card.
3.  A nice straight shiny border can be made by sticking some double sided tape down to where you want the border to be, removing the other backing, covering with embossing powder (I used gold) and heating to melt.  (Check that the tape you are using is up to the job first - all the ones Regal sell are suitable).
4.  Colour metallic trim (this one's from Green Tara) with permanent pens to match your project.
5.  Just put the edge of an embossing folder over your opened card (before adding all the extra bits) and run through your Cuttlebug to make a border.
6.  Always use a thick, good quality base card if you are going to embosss/heat/collage etc etc .  (This one is PL2 - Regal's smooth white singlefold.

EMBOSSED TREE WITH GLITTER

THE GLITTER TREE

Here is another card from the demo on glitter an shine - a fairly subtle example in this instance.

The tree has been embossed onto pale blue paper using a Couture Creations folder in a Cuttlebug.  The trunk and branches have been coloured with white Smooch and the flowers with crystal Stickles.  A bow, some Green Tara lace and some tiny rhinestones have been added to finish off.

This card was constructed on the back of one of Regal's photo slot cards (leaving the back for a removable photo or special message) but could be made on any of the larger singlefolds.

STAMP WITH COLOURED PAPER

STAMP WITH COLOURED PAPER

Its a bit had to see that I've used a Regal soft cream singlefold base  for this card, as it's covered in Kaiser paper!!.  The vertical lace strip is cut from the same piece of paper but real lace or ribbon could be used.  The stamp is from Graphic45 and I've stamped a second image onto a piece of blue patterned paper, cut out the second bird down and glued it to the base image.  This is one of my favourite ways to add colour - its quick and easy, very effective, and doesn't involve blending!!

FOUR LOVELY LADIES

FOUR VARIATIONS USING ONE STAMP

Trudy Meijer has used Regal's square cards (gold, black and white) and a variety of stickers, diecuts and trims to create four lovely cards, all using the same stamp.  (She thinks the stamp may be from Do Crafts).  She has heat embossed a couple of the images, and coloured one (possibly with Tombow pens?)

This is a great example of how, even when retaining a similar theme and using the same stamp, Trudy has created four totally different, but equally impressive cards.

LALALAND CUTIES

I've been a bit slow to get these pictures on the blog, but I'm sure you'll agree these cute cards that Janine Smith made using La La Land stamps at the September demo (yes, sorry, I know it was nearly two months ago) are worth the wait!!  Janine has stamped multiple images, and after colouring them, has used her Spellbinders  dies to cut ovals of decreasing size.  She has then layered them up with some foam tape behind to add dimension

 Janine made quite a few lovely cards in the course of the day........and she did a Christmas demo a week or so ago as well, so expect to see more of her work in the next few weeks.

FAN CARD

I used a Regal fan card to make this example.  If you just popped some pretty paper or fabric underneath it could easily be a five minute card, but I've done a little bit more this time around.  The paper is vellum/parchment paper, coloured with a dorso crayon (spread with some lavender oil so it has a nice scent as well).  After it was thoroughly dry I ran it through the Cuttlebug using a paisley embossing folder and then added some gold-edged satin ribbon and Kaiser flowers to finish.  Apart from waiting until the oil dried, I think that made it a 10 minute card!!

VINTAGE FASHION CALENDAR

This is another one of Lynne's lovely calendars.  The photo is a tad dodgy because we already have it up on display immediately underneath a flourescent light and my little camera hasn't really done justice to this lovely project.  (Yes I know......I'm blaming the equipment, not the operator).

Anyway.....and more importantly, Lynne used ribbon to attach one of Regal's little calandar pads to a panel decorated with Graphic 45 paper, a handmade rosette and a beautiful pencil-coloured stamp from Darkroom Door.  (Yes.....it is hand-coloured!)  The end-result is a beautiful vintage piece that could take pride of place in any room.

STAND-UP CALENDARS

Here are another couple of calendars from Lynne's demo.  Both of them are made with a similar structure - just in a different size.  You can see from the side picture how Lynne has scored and secured the base so the calendars will sit flat (e.g. for posting).  The larger calendar features Kaiser stamps which have been coloured with Copic markers.  Lynne has then added highlights by embossing the middle of the flowers with polysparkle embossing powder and adding some little rhinestones.  Little calendar pads from Regal complete the projects.